Mahatma Gandhi

In 1869, Gandhi was borne in Porbandar, India. He was borne into a very respected family. When Gandhi was 13 year he was married to Kasturbai. When he was a youth, he was quiet and afraid, and mostly he was alone. After Gandhi had finished school in India, he moved to England, where hi study very long and hard and became a lawyer. In the court with his first case, he was so nervous that he did not manage to say a word when it was he’s turn! After those few years in England, he moved back to his mother country, India and settled down in Bombay. But soon he moved to South Africa.

On his way to Africa he found out that African people didn’t like Indies, and he was thrown of the train because he would not give his seat to a white man. Then he decided to fight for the black people rights in the world. And the most important; he would not use violence, even if his enemy did it! And trough all his life he manages to hold that promises.

Soon Gandhi became a highly respected leader of the Indians in South Africa. In Africa at that time, black people didn’t have the same right as the white people, and it was hard for Indian people to live and work there. As the rest of the Indian in Africa, Gandhi did not like this. So he started a big demonstration in 1913. He and 2.500 other Indies demonstrated against unfair laws, and that white and black should be treated the same. But police came and arrested everybody. Gandhi had to pay the police a ticket but he wouldn’t do it, and refused to pay. Because of that he was sent to an African prison. His supporters demanded that he would be released, but instead the police killed two people and hurt 20 of the demonstrates when they was demonstrating.

When Gandhi was in Africa, General Smuts had control over the country. He and Gandhi often met under demonstrations and. In 1939 Smuts wrote a letter to Gandhi where he told him how much he respected and honoured him. In a replay to Smut’s letter, Gandhi sent him a pair of sandals he had made in prison. And Smuts often used them. After some years he sent the sandals back to Gandhi and said that he had used them each summer, but he couldn’t admit that he belonged in shoes to a big man like Gandhi. Gandhi and Smuts were soon friends.

Under his stay in South Africa, Gandhi spent 6 long years in prison, but for Gandhi it was more peacefully in the prison than out in the city. Also when Gandhi sat in prison he planned his strategy to “fight” back the raze different.

When Ghandi came home to India in 1914 he was 45 years old, and had worked in Africa for 21 years. Many people in India went to the airport and celebrated when he came home. But that didn’t make Gandhi very happy, because he wanted to be one of the people, not a special man. On his travel trough India he always was on third class in the train. At this travel he saw much of India. The culture, but also very much poor people.

Gandhi told the Indian people to boycott the Englishmen without using violence. He sat six years in prison and was released in1924. After that he settled down and worked for the poorest people. On a meeting he hold he got all his supporters to burn their English clothes and start making new Indies clothes. This was the beginning of India release from England.

Another thing Gandhi managed to do was to get all Indian workers stop working one day. Then the Englishmen understood what power Gandhi had in India.

In 1930 the British had total control over all salt that was bring up of the sea in India, Gandhi thought that that was one of the reason that England had so much control in India. Since salt was very important for India. He started marching against the sea, at the beginning it just was some 100 people, but in every village he went throw people joined him on his march. At the end they where over 1000 Indians. The British people where not very happy because of this, and they started using violence against Indies.
The police came and stopped the march.

He continued his piecework, and when the Second World War broke out in 1939, he was against booth nazis and fascists. He demanded an Independent India in 1942 and was active in the negotiation that did India Independent from Britain in 1947. But only a year after he was assassinated in Delhi.

Mahatma Gandhi was an very important man, he has learned all people that there is no need for violence, you can win without it.